On Thursday, the UN Special Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba in Tunis.
During the talks, Bathily affirmed that “all the mission’s endeavours with the Libyan parties will be focused on holding the country’s national elections as soon as possible.” In turn, Dbaiba claimed that his government is “fully ready” to organise elections in Libya.
The meeting was devoted to “following up on the political situation” and “the results of Bathily’s local and international visits.”
Last week, the UN Envoy embarked on a regional tour to Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, and Egypt, during which he held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Qatari Foreign Minister Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Shakhboot Nahyan Al Nahyan, and Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry.
The tour aimed to mobilise international and regional support to re-launch the political process, which has been in deadlocked since late 2021. A new round of negotiations on the “constitutional track” between Libya’s Parliament Speaker, Ageela Saleh and the Head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri will start in Cairo with the presence of Bathily, sources reported.
Saleh and Al-Mishri did not announce in advance that either of them would meet in Cairo.
However, council members discussed a meeting aimed at completing discussions on unifying the executive authority, filling sovereign positions, and providing a constitutional basis for the postponed Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gadaffi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by various militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Dbaiba to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
